The Greek Gods

According to the Greek gods mythology, in the beginning there was only a god named Chaos. Chaos was nothing more than a dark abyss which was soundless, motionless, formless, and no sign of life whatsoever. It is believed that Chaos gave birth to Uranus (also known as Ouranus, the Heavens, or the Sky), Eros (Desire), and to Gaea (also known as Ge, Gaia, or Mother Earth). Gaea and Uranus then married and together they created the first 12 Titans, the 3 Cyclopes, and the 3 Hecatonchires.

The 12 Titans were Coeus, Phoebe, Mnemosyne, Crius, Hyperion, Theia, Oceanus, Tethys, Cronus, Rhea, Lapetus, and Themis. The 12 all paired off except for Themis because she was loved by her nephew, Zeus, and Lapetus married the nymph named Clymene, who was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Theia married Hyperion, Cronus married Rhea, Coeus married Phoebe, and Crius married Mnemosyne.

The 3 Cyclopes names were Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. The Cyclopes were giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads. These giants as well as the Hecatonchires helped Zeus overthrow Cronus and the other Titans in the War of the Titans in which the Trojan Horse became popular. The Hecatonchires were giant monsters with 50 heads and 100 arms.

It is written that Gaea got tired of Uranus coming down every night and laying with her. She was also in fear for her children because Uranus was disappointed in them and claimed that they were ugly he was ashamed of them. There are at least two translations to this story. In one, Gaea hid her children within a cave inside herself to keep Uranus from harming them. Another translations says that Uranus locked them away in the deep pit within the earth called Tartarus. It was also said that he was afraid of them. It seems that Gaea begged her children to help her overthrow Uranus by castrating him. This would also keep him from coming to her every night. There are also at least two stories about this too. One says that Cronus was the only one of the children to volunteer to help his mother, Gaea. It was also thought that he was not just doing it to help her, but that he wanted to be the ruler of the gods himself so he wanted to overthrow his father, Uranus. Another story says that four of the other children held Cronus while Cronus cut off his testicles. When he threw the testicles into the sea, it is said that a large amount of foam appeared on the surface of the water and from it, Aphrodite was born. The story also stated that when Uranus’ blood hit the earth, more creatures, monsters, and nymphs were born.